The Bossier banner., 1887-08-11
<yE@nTAIhAGE'ss SERMON.
The Brooklyn Preacher at "The
Hamptons."

The Brooklyn Preacher at "The
Hamptons."
A Discourse ON PauIs Departure from
Earth to the Glories Beyond
The Apostles Final Triumph
swS
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage preached at
ssThe Hamptons" on a recent Sabbath,
taking for his topic "From Dungeon to
Palace.' HIS text was:
The time of my departure is at hand
n & Timothy, ivs .EsE
The way out Of this world is so blocked
up with coffin and hearse, and under
takers spade and screw-driver, that the
Christian can hardly think as he ought OF
the most cheerful passage in all his bis
tory We hang black instead of white
over the place where the good man gets
his last victory. We stand weeping over
heap of chains which the freed soul has
shaken Off and we say:
'sPoor mani What pity it was he had
to come to this |"
IS Cometo WHAT By the time the people
have assembled at the obsequies that
man has been three days so happy that
all the joys of earth accumulated would
be wretchedness beside it, and he might
better weep over you because you have
to stay than you weep over him be-
cause he had to go. 1t is fortunate
thing that q good man does not have to
wait to see his own obsequles; they would
be so discordant with his own experience.
II the Israelites should go back to Egypt
and mourn over the bricl1-kilns they once
left they would not be any more silly
than that Christian who should forsake
Heaven and come down and mourn be-
cause he had to leave this world. Our
~ idea of Christians death are morbid
and sickly. We look upon it as dark
hole fn which man tumbles when his
breath gives out. The whole subject is
4ss odorous with varnish and disinfectants
instead Of being sweet with mignonette.
Paul, in my text, takes that great clod OF
asword ''death' and throws it away, and
speaks Of his 'departure'-beautiful,
bright, suggestive word, descriptive Of
every Christians release.
sst Now, departure implies starting place
and a place of destination. When Paul
left this world, what was the starting
ess= point2 1t was q scence of great physical
distress. It was the Tullianum, the lower
dungeon of the Mamertine prison. The
top dungeon was bad enough, it having
no means of ingress or egress but throu a
an opening in the top. Through that the
ssss prisoner was lowered, and through that
came all the food and air and light re.
ceived. 1t was a terrible place, that up
per dungeon; but the Tallianum was the
lower dungeon, and that was still more
wretched, the only light and the only air
coming through the roof, and that roof
the floor Of the upper dungeon.
That was Paups last earthly residence.
1t was a dungeon just six and half feet
- high. It was a doleful place, It had the
chill OF long centuries of dampness. II
was filthy with the long incarcerations
of miserable wretches. 1t was there that
Paul spent his last days on
earth, and it is there that see him to-
day. in the fearful dungeon, shivering,
blue with cold, waiting for that old over
coat which he had sent for up to Troas,
and which they had not sent down, not
withstanding he had written for it.
If some skillful surgeon should go into
that dungeon where Paul is incarcerated
we might find out what are the prospects
OF Paups living through the rough i'm
prisonment In the first place, he is an old
man, only two years short of seventy. At
that very time when he most needs the
warmth, and the sunlight, and the fresh
air, he is shut out from the sun. What
are those scars on his anklesa Why
those were gotten when he was fast, hi.
feet in the stocks. Every time he turned
the flesh on his ankles started. What
are those scars on his back? You know
he was whipped i've times each time get
ting thirty-nine strokes-one hun
dred and ninety-five bruises on thu
back (count themD made by tn.
Jews with rods of elmwood, eacl
one of the one hundred and ninety II w
strokes bringing the blood. Look at PsAsse
face and look at his armsl Where did h,
get those bruisesl think it was wher
he was struggling ashore amidst thu
shivered timbers Of the shipwreck. / Sc,
cash in Paups side. Where did he ge
thata think he got that in the tussl
with the highwaymen, for he had been il
peril Of robbers, and he had money Of hi
own. He was mechanic as well as al
apostle, and think the tents he mad
were as good as his sermons.
There is wanness about Paul's looks
What makes thatl think part of tha
came from the fact that he was TO
twenty-four hours on plank in the Med
iterranean sea, suffering terribly befor
he was rescued; for he says, positively:
II was night and a day in the Deep"
Oh, worn-out emaciated old mani sure
ly you must be melancholy; no constitu
tim could endure this and be cheerful
But l press my way through the prison
until come up close to whene he is; ant
SIS by the faint light that streams through
the opening I see on his face a supernat
ural joy and bow before him and say
"Aged man. how can you keep cheerful
amid all this gloomr'
His voice startles the darkness of tn,
place as he cries out
am now ready to be offered, and the time o
my departure is at hand.
Hark what is that shufling Of feet i,
the upper dungeon7 Why, Paul has al
invitation to banquet and he is going t
dine to-day with the King Those shut
fling feet ara the feet Of tho
They come, and they cry down through
the hole of the dungeon.
"Hurry up, old man. Come now; &c
yourself ready"
Why, Paul was ready. He had nothing
to pack up. He had no baggage to take